Real Azteca serves up the real deal

Fresh corn tortillas are made to order at Real Azteca, an authentic Mexican taqueria in Hunts Point. BIANCA CONSUNJI/The Bronx Ink

It was 3 p.m., that awkward hour between lunch and dinner when most restaurants slow down. Even the Bronx’s best-known pizzerias on Arthur Avenue had emptied out. But halfway across the borough on the same Saturday afternoon, the cramped but cozy Real Azteca was bustling. The counter seating was full, and a steady stream of customers arrived for takeout.

Behind the counter, four cooks prepared a wide variety of traditional Michoacán dishes in full view of the customers. The dishes are nothing like the Tex-Mex burritos that generally pass for “Mexican food” in the U.S. Real Azteca offers huitlacoche quesadillas with a rich, ground mushroom-and-corn filling, soft goat-meat tacos, seafood soup with fresh cilantro, and steak with prickly-pear cactus and homemade guacamole.

And the neighborhood seems to appreciate it. “We’re always busy,” said cook Patricia Valle. “Thank the Lord.”

Real Azteca is family-run. Valle’s brother-in-law Francisco Ortega opened this restaurant 15 years ago, and Valle and her sister Graciela Ortega cook. The family are Tarasco Indians, and pride themselves on serving authentic cuisine from their native Michoacán, a state on the southwest coast of Mexico.

Quesadillas are their signature dish. A young cook scoops a handful of dough from a giant tub and places it in a press brought specially from Mexico.

“You can’t buy a press like this here,” said Francisco Ortega, whose brother has opened a second restaurant near St. Barnabas Hospital. “It’s not hard to make tortillas, but I haven’t seen other restaurants doing it.”

Ortega prides himself on fresh ingredients. The cooks grind jalapeños and other chilies to make their own salsas and press hundreds of tortillas each day.

The extra care makes all the difference, said Valle, who made her living as a cook back home as well. When three other Mexican restaurants opened nearby, all three closed within a year. None of them used fresh ingredients, Valle said, adding with a grimace that she suspects they heated dishes in a microwave.

Seated at a table, Ricardo Garcia from Guatemala is one of the restaurant’s repeat visitors. “The quesadillas are best,” Garcia said. “I come all the time.”

Around 4:30 p.m., there was a short lull. A police officer dropped by to pick up an order for the 41st Precinct. Graciela Ortega and then Valle each took turns sitting down to a quick meal at the counter. A tired Valle smiled and pointed to her bowl. “This is the first chance I’ve had all day to eat something,” she said with a hint of satisfaction. “It’s been so busy.”

Real Azteca, 1013 E. 163rd Street, 718-860-1566

By subway: Hunts Point Avenue on the No. 6 train.  


Leave a Reply